This article addresses how and why video art shaped the museum environment for the 21st century. The argument tracks a period of museological innovation between 1968 and 1990. Beginning with the Museum of Modern Art, New York, changes in architectural display and curatorial focus are then examined with respect to the Centre George Pompidou, Paris, the Tate Gallery, London and the Art Gallery of New South Wales in Sydney. This research reveals how video art's 'problematic' time-based presence and redefinition of normative spectator positions assisted in the development of modern museum environments suitable for constant modification.